Saturday, August 23, 2008

A Day At The Fair

So we went to the Ex the other day. It's essentially a state fair, some livestock exhibits surrounded by a big carnival. As I've said before, I don't like carnivals. I don't like to go on rides. I don't enjoy big crowds of people. I'm not a fan of the games. The one thing I do enjoy is the food but that's overpriced which sucks. So all in all, I'm not the person you want to go with to one of these things. However, my wife and kids do enjoy that stuff so I got to try and pretend.

Truthfully, I'd say I had an ok time this year. It wasn't very crowded the day we went so that certainly helped. Seeing the family having a good time makes it fun too. All the way there we got to hear from our oldest how she was going to be brave and go on the merry go round. She does not enjoy rides at all (no idea where she gets that from). Her determination to be brave and go on a ride was strong all the way to the entrance. We got her to the little kiddie car ride that goes around in circles and she actually sat in it before the tears started. I had gotten to the other side of the guard rail before it happened, which surprised me. So we got her out and watched as her little sister went on the ride. She's totally opposite from her sister when it comes to rides. She was all smiles and laughs when it started. After that wore off she did the final few laps with a smug self assured grin on her face as she focused on steering the car. She didn't cry until the ride ended and we had to pry her off of it. That little taste only made her hungry for more and she kept pointing to all the rides asking to go on them. Not just kiddie rides either. If she'd had her way she would have gone on the grown up roller coaster and that one that raises everyone straight up in the air and then plummets quickly. Since pregnant women aren't allowed to go on rides, that left me to go on some with her.

We went on some spinning strawberry thing that she didn't enjoy as much as the cars. For some reason being in an enclosed metal berry away from her mom that spun in circles didn't appeal to her. After that failure, I gave in to her demands to go on the kiddie roller coaster. Unfortunately, when we got to the entrance we found out she wasn't old enough to ride it. "Darn it. Just four little months standing preventing me from the chance to look like a big wuss on an infants roller coaster? Damn you carnival safety regulations." That left the merry go round, which I couldn't go on because of an unfortunate incident a couple years ago.

When our oldest was an infant we went to the Ex. Some parent of hers, not naming names but I think we all know I'm mothering about, thought she would enjoy going on rides. I played along and took her on the merry go round. I sat her on the horse and held onto her as it started. Immediately, she panicked and tried to get off. That left me trying to keep her from falling while holding on as we spun in circles. In order to do all that I had to go up and down as the horse did or risk dropping my infant. My sympathetic wife and sister who were watching all this just about wet themselves as they watched me, as the put it, "hump the horse on the merry go round". Needless to say, I didn't want to jog the memory of any carnie who may witnessed that so I've steered clear of that ride since.

As I said earlier though, the family enjoys carnivals so I go. The little one likes the rides. The big one like the games. And everyone likes the animals. Good thing because none of those appeal to me. Actually, that's not true. The one exception to the rule is skiball. That is far and away the best game in the history of midways. You just have to admire the kind of mind that sits and thinks "How can I combine bowling and basketball?" Friggin' genius. However, now that I think about it why stop there? Throw other sports into the mix. Put a guy at the end of the lane with a bat. Make it a little more interesting by throwing in some tackling or checking. Or if you really want to increase the degree of difficulty, light the ball on fire. I'm sure I've got some kinks to iron out but I think I've got the foundation for a fantastic sport. I hear the Olympics is looking at getting rid of taekwondo so they'll have an opening. I should really polish this little brain nugget of mine and who knows what could happen. Fingers crossed for 2012.

2 comments:

I can sooooo see your wife doubled over with laughter at your brave attempt to compose your self- dignity on the merry-go-round. Have you ever held a scared kitten? Kind of that fear and scramble? hee hee